Gold Notches 4-Month High; 2015 Silver Eagles Top 38M

Gold and silver futures posted 4 to 4-1/2-month highs Thursday, advancing their winning streaks to nine sessions in ten with five of them in a row. Platinum and palladium climbed for a second straight day.

Gold for December delivery advanced $7.70, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,187.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close is the highest since June 19 when prices ended at $1,201.90 an ounce.

"The latest rally has been fueled by a three-week plunge in the U.S. dollar and small speculators leaning on the short side of the metal expecting it to test the $1,000 level," MarketWatch quoted Ken Ford, president of Warwick Valley Financial Advisors.

Gold prices traded from a low of $1,173.90 to a high of $1,191.70. They are up this week by 2.7%.

Silver for December delivery rose 5 cents, or 0.3%, to close at $16.16 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.90 to $16.20. Silver’s settlement is the highest since June 3, when prices ended at $16.48 an ounce. On the week so far, the precious metal is 2.2% higher.

In PGM futures on Thursday:

January platinum added $11.60, or 1.2%, to $1,007 an ounce, trading between $987 and $1,008.30.

Palladium for December delivery rose $4.15, or 0.6%, to $705 an ounce, ranging from $695.40 to $708.

London Precious Metals Prices

Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices gained as well. In comparing their prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:

Gold added $10.35, 0.9%, to $1,184.25 an ounce.

Silver added 34 cents, or 2.2%, to $16.18 an ounce.

LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.

US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in October

United States Mint bullion sales advanced Thursday by 2,000 ounces in gold coins and 41,500 ounces in silver coins.

The U.S. Mint has limited sales of bullion American Silver Eagles since temporarily running out of them in early July. The agency allocated 1 million coins for this week, and now 113,000 of those remain. On Thursday, Silver Eagle sales reached 38,016,500 coins for the year — a record pace, up 8% through the same time in 2014. Last year when sales ended at an annual record totaling 44,006,000, the coins by Oct. 15 reached sales of 35,201,000.

Below is a listing of United States Mint bullion products with the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.